The promotion announced Wednesday that the MTV2-televised card will
include a non-title bout between middleweight champion Hector
Lombard and
UFC veteran Falaniko
Vitale, along with an as-yet-undetermined fourth-season
tournament final.

“This is a great partnership for us. Atlantic City is a classic
fight town and New Jersey is a hotbed for mixed martial arts, so it
was a natural fit,” Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated
in a release.

Lombard, 33, was a member of the 2000 Olympic judo squad for his
home country of Cuba and transitioned to mixed martial arts in 2004
after defecting to Australia. Since that time, the
American Top Team fighter has racked up an impressive record of
27-2-1, including 14 wins by way of knockout.

Since claiming Bellator gold with a trio of stoppages in 2009,
Lombard has competed and won six times. Most recently, he notched
the first defense of his belt with a five-round unanimous decision
over second-season tournament winner Alexander
Shlemenko on Oct. 28. Before facing Vitale, Lombard is expected
to meet Joe Doerksen
on the
March 25 card from Australian promotion
Cage Fighting Championship, whose 185-pound title Lombard also
currently holds.

Vitale enters the May bout on a three-fight win streak, having
defended his middleweight title with Hawaiian promotion X-1
World Events thrice in the last 12 months. Following Ezekiel
choke submissions of Kalib
Starnes and Kala Hose,
Vitale scored a first-round knockout of X-1 welterweight ace
Dylan
Clay on March 12 and subsequently gave up the belt in
anticipation of joining the Bellator ranks. The Hawaiian’s 29-9
ledger includes notable wins over fellow UFC vets Yushin
Okami, Matt
Lindland and Dave Menne.